By all measures, demand for cosmetic surgery procedures is gangbusters right now. At the same time, we hear mixed things on the nonsurgical side of the house, with some clients reporting a somewhat similar demand increase while others are fairly flat or even down slightly since Covid hit just about a year ago. If you’re looking to ramp up med spa treatments at your practice, here are some top tips!
1. Start a Rewards/Loyalty Program
Subscription services are very popular with the kids these days! And they’re increasingly popular with older adults too. A rewards program keeps your med spa patients engaged and has many other benefits:
- Take the hassle out of your patients having to remember when touch up treatments are due and having to figure out what treatments to get at what times of the year.
- Create a lasting connection between your patients and your brand.
- Can lead to excellent social media content (for instance: “Our loyal patients saved over $10,000 last month in our rewards program! Will you be next?”).
Of course, there are some costs associated. You’ll have to set up and administer the program, plus when patients redeem discounts or offers, that’s money off your bottom line. But there are tools to make program administration easier, and in our experience, the benefit of the recurring income and steady patient base more than offsets these costs.
2. Ramp Up Google and Social PPC
Paid online advertising is the quickest way to reach potential new patients in your market. We like Facebook ads in particular for med spa procedures, both because the lower price point can engage a wider audience and also because Google has made it increasingly difficult to advertise many medical spa procedures. Their “ad police” classify many procedures such as PRP and nonsurgical hair treatments as “speculative medical treatments” and they’re also particularly sensitive to prescription drug terms (we’re looking at you, BOTOX). The type of procedures you want to advertise and your marketing objectives will guide the best PPC platforms.
If you’re not quite ready for a full-on paid campaign, one thing you might want to try is boosting a post about a special offer or savings event. This is a particularly good option for targeting your existing fanbase and making sure they know the deal.
3. Promote Monthly Specials
Speaking of deals, there’s value in having a routine special offer that your med spa patients know to check. We say monthly but if that’s too much of a burden, we suggest coming up with some whiz-bang offers a few times a year, and promoting the heck out of them. For instance you could do a “spring cleaning” event to move skincare products, or a “holidays in July” sale on gift cards.
For some of our clients, the idea of discounting sends chills. We get it. If you’re going for premium branding in your market, it might very well make sense to stay the course. Which brings us to our next suggestion.
4. Upsell Your Value
Personal service and attention can be hard to come by these days, but people are craving it. Update your website to list exactly what med spa patients can expect when they first visit. This might include:
- Training and experience of the providers
- Consultation steps
- Skincare analysis
- Other value adds
Detailing out what to expect and what value you are offering is particularly important for first-time med spa patients. It can be easy to forget how intimidating it might feel to a 30-something woman or man walking into an aesthetic practice for the first time. Show them they’ll have a good experience and get a tremendous value for the time spent.
5. Encourage Referrals
You have many satisfied patients who might just need a little extra nudge to spread the word about how much they love their results. The introverts among us often don’t want to advertise to the world (or even close friends and family) that they are having cosmetic treatments. And that’s OK.
One way to approach the conversation (and it should be a conversation, please please please do not mass-email your patients asking for reviews!) is to put things in context. Tell patients some version of this story: “We have superfans who are sharing our word all across social media, friend circles, anyone who will listen. We’re just happy if everyone like you who’s had a good experience can tell 3 or 4 friends.” That plants the seed and makes your ask seem much smaller.
6. Send More Email Newsletters
Email is an old standby, but it hasn’t been kicked to the curb for one simple reason: it works. And it works really well. You can reach your existing patients to provide exclusive offers and stay top-of-mind when it’s time for another treatment. Bonus points if you integrate mentions of your loyalty program, monthly specials, and encourage recipients to share your email.
7. Tap Your Reps
Your product and device reps can be a great resource for nonsurgical promotions. Let’s preface that by saying that not all reps are created equal, but if you have a rep who’s engaged and working hard to help your practice to succeed, talk with him or her about what kind of extra things they can offer for support. For instance, maybe they can put some corporate marketing dollars on the table to assist with advertising their device. Or maybe they can bundle a popular skincare product with each treatment. They might also have some great ideas for social media campaigns that have been effective for other practices. If you have good relationships, leverage those to get your med spa side even busier.
